Home
WHENEVER YOU DRINK COFFEE IN VIENNA:
THINK OF MICHAEL SATTLER AND THE TURKSby Joseph S. Miller I wish I could have witnessed the trial of Michael Sattler in 1527 and heard exactly what he said about the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. But I also would like to be given the chance to talk privately with Michael and ask for his reflections on our 20th century walls of hostility.
Michael said in his trial: ". . .if the Turks should come, we ought not resist them. For it is written: 'Thou shalt not kill.' I would rather take the field against so-called Christians who persecute, capture, and kill pious Christians than against the Turks . . . the Turk is a true Turk, knows nothing of the Christian faith, and is a Turk after the flesh. But you who make your boast of Christ persecute . . . and are Turks after the spirit." (Spiritual and Anabaptist Writers ed. by George Williams pages 137 and 141) One of the main charges against Michael Sattler was disloyalty to the state and the church.
It is amazing to me that the "wall" that divided Europe in the 16th century by standing between the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire was almost exactly at the same place as the "wall" that stood between Western Europe and Eastern Europe after the Second World War. When Michael made his treasonous statement in an Austrian court the city of Belgrade had already been captured by the Turks in 1521 and Hungary had been captured in 1526. Hungarians, even today mournfully remember the 1526 date when they were defeated by the Turks at the Battle of Mohacs. The First Siege of Vienna in 1529, which would end in a stalemate, was only two years in the future from Michael's day in court.
I suspect that there are some interesting connections between Sattler's testimony at his trial and modern East/West and Christian/Muslim relationships. How might some of our own modern concerns relate to Sattler's words before the Austrian court of 1527? That court was deeply fearful that the Ottomans would defeat Vienna and then sweep across Western Europe. Michael Sattler's court and society typically responded to their collective anxiety with internal and external violence. The Christian West of the 16th century, as in our own day, talked at times ad nauseam about a "domino effect" and fallaciously proclaimed to each other that if Vienna fell all of Europe would fall under Turkish control. If I could take along on my "time travel" several of Walter Wink's books I think Michael would know what Wink is talking about. "Yes, that is it!" I can hear Michael Sattler blurt out. "It is indeed all about naming evil and unmasking the powers!"
The big battle for Vienna came in 1683 with all the Christian kingdoms and principalities of the West, except for France, gathered in Vienna (an early NATO?) to defend the Holy Roman Empire. But it is noteworthy, and as a Christian troubling, that Christians always were better off under Ottoman rule than Muslims were under Christian rule. Maybe Michael knew this? The Ottomans were defeated in 1683 and had to abandon their supplies as they fell back east toward their capital of Constantinople. The Turks left much for the west to consider and savor as they retreated. Not the least of which was the coffee the Turks abandoned. Now when we go to Viennese coffee houses, we forget to thank the Turks for their gift of coffee. So the next time I am drinking an espresso in a Viennese coffee house I shall drink a demitasse and remember the Ottomans and I shall have a second and remember Michael Sattler.
--Joseph S. Miller is pastor of Bethel Mennonite Church of Lancaster
Mennonite Historical Bulletin, January 1996